Meta

Month: November 2014

A Capella has blown up so much in recent years, its become almost as popular as Gregorian chants during the Medieval Period. The media has helped push A Capella into popularity through various ways, one being a movie called Pitch Perfect and an A Capella competition titled The Sing Off.

Pitch Perfect is about a young new college student named Beca, who immerses herself in an A Capella group and steers the gang towards success. The Sing Off features various A Capella groups preforming today’s popular music. This competition has celebrity judges that eliminates a group each week. Ultimately, an A Capella group wins a grand prize and becomes famous.

Due to Pitch Perfect and The Sing Off, A Capella has popped up at thousands of universities. Central Washington University didn’t have A Capella until 2011. In 2011, Isaiah Ragland, currently a senior at Central, brought A Capella to Central Washington University through Nada Cantada. Eventually more groups were formed like Boots n’ Cats, Fantastic Forte, and 20/20.

Last year, Emelia Blunt, another senior at Central, started a non-audition A Capella group named Blunt Force Trauma. This group is exciting because students can have all the fun of being in an A Capella group without auditioning. This is really important to me because although I haven’t always had professional training, music has always been a therapeutic getaway for me. This is a great opportunity for others who are in the same situation I’m in as well.

Recently, Central had its Fall A Capella concert called FallapaFOURza. This concert’s line up involves the groups I’ve mentioned earlier. Blunt Force Trauma’s songs include: “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit, “Make it To Me” by Sam Smith, “Your Love” by the Outfield, Ke$ha, and Moko. Here’s is a video of our performance if you would like to watch.

In honor of National Candy Day, I’m going to talk about something that is somewhat related. Diabetes. There was a time I was concerned for my health and my doctor thought I could have diabetes. I was really worried and thought “Hmm I guess that makes sense, I do love my sweets more than the average person”. My friends agreed as well so there, it was settled. Turns out I do not have diabetes. I don’t know about most people but I was under the notion that diabetes was caused by eating too much sugar.

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and although I don’t have diabetes, I know someone who does. And I think its great to learn more information about this subject because I’m sure other people are or were under the same notion I was.

The cause of both type I and type II diabetes is widely unknown. Type I diabetes attacks the “insulin producing cells” in the pancreas. Because of the lack of insulin, sugar builds up in the bloodstream instead of absorbing in the body. There is a similar situation with type II diabetes. In type II diabetes the cells in the body become resilient to insulin. The sugar-filled energy from the body goes into the bloodstream instead of being adsorbed into the cells.

The American Diabetes Association organization (ADA) is doing everything in their power to get Americans to live a healthier lifestyle, prevent, and handle diabetes. This years theme is “America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes® which is presented by Sun Life Financial”. The ADA has dedicated a title for everyday of the week to promote exercise and a balanced diet. The ADA is so dedicated they encourage others to participate in a do-it-yourself fundraiser,” they’re calling Cook to Stop Diabetes. This involves family, friends, and the community coming together for a fun party involving healthy cooking and raising money to stop diabetes.

If you would like to find out more informational facts about diabetes or the ADA visit: